Lubricating composition



Patented Dec. 29, 1936 2,066,216 LUBRICATING' COMPOSITION Floyd L. Miller, Roselle Park, N. J., and Arnold J.

Morway, New York, N. Y., assignors to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application June 29, 1933,

i Serial No. 678,188

' 4 Claims.

This invention relates to improved lubricating compositions, particularly compositions of the general natureof greases or of compounded oils which are suitable for lubricating gears and surfaces especially where high pressures are maintained.

Greases are manufactured by incorporating soaps such as potassium, sodium, calcium, or similar soaps, into a lubricating oil at elevated temperatures. On cooling this mixture, a structure is obtainedin which lubricating oil is held in rigid form by virtue of the interlacing structure of the soaps. .On prolonged storage, especially where temperatures above 80 F. are maintained, this composition tends to break in that it sweats or allows the oil to run out from the structure. Similarly, compounded oils manufactured by blending a mineral lubricating oil and certain metallic soaps such as for example, lead oleate, when first compounded are usually clear their lubricating qualities.

These and other'objects of the invention will be seen in thefollowing descriptionof our invention. i

-It has been discovered that some metallic soaps possess the unusual property of forming colloids of the type known as emulsoidal when added to a hydrocarbon oil. These metallic soaps in many cases appear atfirst to be perfectly oil-soluble but immediately begin to form colloids homogeneously dispersed throughout the entire mass of the 'oil. In other cases, it may be necessary to use heat to effect solution, after which the mixture, is cooled. Such metallic soap colloids are stable, in that they do not settle out from the oil on standing even at elevated temperatures and their behavior appears to be of a similar nature to that of a gelatin dissolved in water.

These metallic soaps, which form emulsoidal colloids when added to a lubricating oil, are added to a grease containing an alkali or an alkali earth soap which tends to separate or sweat and the resulting mixture is stabilized so thatsweating does not take place on standing over a prolonged period of time, or-it is minimized especially when the grease is subjected to temperatures above 80 F., as sweating of a grease most often takes place at these temperatures. These metallic soaps also stabilize compounded oils, 1. e.,. oils that contain more or l ss soluble metallic soaps, such as lead oleate, which tend to partially separate on standing.

The quantity of metallic soaps that is usually I added is about 1%, though up to 2 has been added without materially changing the physical characteristics of the lubricating compositions. The metallic soaps which have been disiiaphthenic acids. Especially suitable are the' synthetic acids prepared by the oxidation of paramn wax.

' The invention will be more readily understood from the following examples:

pounds of a fatty oil such as prime tallow, or mixed fats, and 48.5 pounds of mineral lubricating oil having a Saybolt viscosity of about 100 seconds at.100 F. are mixed and the mixture is heated to about 280 F. The heating is continued and a mixture of 1.25 pounds of water and 140 pounds of hydrated lime (23.5% water of hydration) is slowly added with constant stirring until all of the fatty oil is saponifled and part of the water driven ofi. Then 1 pound of, manganese linoleateor cadmium stearate soap is incorporated. The resulting product has "the following composition: I

Per cent Calcium soap 18.02 Water 5 b 0.50 Mineral lubricating oil. "80.48

Manganese linoleate or cadmium stearate- 1.00

following composiflon: 7

' Per cent Calcium oleate 8.0 Calcium stearate 3.0 Mineral lubricating oil 86.5 Cadmium or cobalt soap l 2.0

' Wateri 0.5

The methods -of incorporatihg the metallic soaps that are used to stabilize the lubricating compositions may be variedr Generally in presoap and both metallic soaps formed simultaneously.

A method of preparing a compounded oil is as follows:

10% of lead oleate is dissolved in mineral oil along with 1% of the desired soap. The temperature may be raised slightly to dissolve the soaps in the oil. The composition of the compounded oil is as follows:

I Per cent Mineral lubricating oil 89.0 Lead olea 10.0 Cadmium or cobalt o1eate 1.0

The foregoing description is merely illustrative and various changes and alternative arrangements-may be made within the scope of the appended claims in which it is our intention to claim all novelty inherent in the invention as broadly as the prior art permits.

We claim: 7

1. A stable lubricating composition comprising a mineral oil, a soap in grease forming proportion selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth and lead soaps, and less than 2%% of a metallic soap selected from thegroup consisting of cobalt oleate, cobalt linoleate, cobalt naphthenate, cobalt soaps of fatty acids obtained by oxidizing paraffin wax, cadmium oleate, cadmium linoleate, cadmium naphthenate, cadmium soaps of fatty acids obtained by oxidizing parafiin wax and manganese liholeate.

2. A stable lubricating composition according FLOYD L. MILLER. ARNOLD J. MOBWAY. 

